Top 30 Most Useful Facebook Blog Posts of 2009

Although I recently blogged that 2009 was, without doubt, the year of Twitter, Facebook had a similarly impressive year where we can say it became a truly mainstream social networking platform boasting over 350 million members. It seems that every business now has a Facebook Fan Page, and it becomes harder and harder for us to avoid spending too much time on Facebook. After all, we now spend more time on Facebook than on any other website!

Facebook will become an even more important place for businesses in 2010, and because of this I have placed an emphasis on finding resources from 2009 to help businesses with establishing and strategically managing their Fan Page. If you are looking for social media marketing information in utilizing Facebook, I believe you are in for a pleasant surprise with my list of Facebook for Business best posts of 2009 below.

For professionals, I placed an emphasis on selecting blog posts that first of all paint a picture of the true demographics of Facebook today. Facebook, as you have probably already figured out, is no longer the exclusive playground of high school and college students. It is important for all of us to realize the present demographics and feel comfortable utilizing it as a social networking platform for professionals.

There were also some great blog posts with advice on anything from Professional Networking, Personal Branding, as well as utilizing applications on Facebook. Hopefully you will begin to see the potential for Windmill Networking on Facebook as you would do on Twitter or LinkedIn. And, yes, there is even an article on how to use Facebook Apps to help you find your next job!

Finally, as privacy is a major issue with Facebook, I included some articles that I felt best describe your privacy options as well as the recent changes that Facebook implemented.

On a final note, although the main emphasis of my blog up until now has been LinkedIn and Twitter, I was surprised by the lack of great Facebook articles on personal branding, professional networking, and job search. I hope to add more Facebook blog posts to my arsenal in 2010 and help you all better understand how to best utilize this most complex yet increasingly ubiquitous social networking platform.

Understanding the Present Facebook Demographics

Statistics which prove what we all knew was coming: people share more information via Facebook than email these days. This has significant implications for all of us and how we communicate with each other moving forward.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, the demographic of Facebook is now older, much older than it used to be. If you are Gen X or a Baby Boomer and are feeling embarrassed about joining or remaining active on Facebook, please read this article!

An excellent article looking at top Facebook trends of 2009. The most important contribution of this article are the stats that give us a great snapshot as to how many people are doing what on Facebook.

If you’re wondering how many Facebook users there are in each of the top 30 countries combined with their recent growth rates, this chart is for you. Some pretty convincing stats on the global popularity of Facebook.

Facebook General Advice & Tips

Since you are reading this blog and have an interest in Windmill Networking, this is the one MUST READ article to give you some ideas of how you can start to use Facebook for professional networking as you do with LinkedIn and Twitter. Excellent post.

Twitter has loads of desktop applications that you can use such as HootSuite and TweetDeck. Were you aware that there are many similar 3rd party applications available for Facebook? A great list…as to whether they are more convenient than going to Facebook.com, you will have to be the judge…

An excellent article that hand-holds you through establishing your Facebook privacy settings in the new paradigm that was recently introduced to the world. No more reason to be afraid of privacy issues on Facebook after reading this post.

Facebook for Business

This is an excellent article to understand how Facebook advertising works. The first 3/4 of this article is a behind-the-scenes and brutal look into the early days of Facebook advertisers and their spammy methods, which in itself is extremely eye-opening. The last few paragraphs, though, deal with the potential goldmine for Facebook advertisers by being able to target Facebook demographics. If you’re thinking of advertising on Facebook, you must read this article!

While basic in details compared to some of the other similar posts in this list, this is comprehensive in scope and goes over areas which you want to make sure you cover in creating your Facebook Fan Page.

An excellent look at a reason to establish a Facebook Fan Page for any company, with step-by-step instructions with how to automate it through pulling in content from your other company sources such as blogs, photos, and videos. If you’re looking to start a Facebook Fan Page, you should read this article first.

Meryl Evans wrote similar blog posts which made my best of LinkedIn as well as Twitter blog posts for 2009, and she repeats here successful formula here with a similar list of ideas for businesses to make use of Facebook.

When Jesse Stay, the CEO of SocialToo.com does a guest post on Tamar Weinberg’s blog, you know it is something special. This blog post does not disappoint, as Jesse, an FBML expert in his own right, gives excellent advice, both technical and non-technical, on creating that perfect Facebook Fan Page.

Excellent compilation of Applications that will help any business. There are a lot of applications that you might not have known of that appear here in the following categories: Blog Promotion, Business Promotion, Communication, Networking, Collaboration, Audio/Visual, and Miscellaneous.

Very recent information based on a ComScore as well as a Morgan Stanley report on the sheer reach of the popular social networking platform from a marketing perspective. A must read to understand the marketing potential of Facebook.

A great post which includes stats on number of fans as well as best practices advice for Fan Pages. A good place to start if you’re looking to emulate the successful case studies of Fan Pages that presently exist.

If you are unsure as to why your business needs a Fan Page, you definitely need to read this article. It is also a great checklist to ensure that your company is properly utilizing their own existing Fan Page as well.

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Maximize Social Business, Neal Schaffer is a leader in helping businesses and professionals strategically maximize their use of social media. Neal is the author of three social media books, including the recently published definitive social media strategy book Maximize Your Social. Forbes lists him as a Top 35 Social Media Power Influencer and AdAge lists his blog, Maximize Social Business (formerly known as Windmill Networking), as a top 100 global marketing blog. Neal provides social media strategy consulting and coaching, having worked with Fortune 500 companies and a Grammy-award winning musician. He has presented worldwide on social media at more than 150 events and also teaches social media marketing at Rutgers University. +Neal Schaffer

About Neal Schaffer

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Maximize Social Business, Neal Schaffer is a leader in helping businesses and professionals strategically maximize their use of social media. Neal is the author of three social media books, including the recently published definitive social media strategy book Maximize Your Social. Forbes lists him as a Top 35 Social Media Power Influencer and AdAge lists his blog, Maximize Social Business (formerly known as Windmill Networking), as a top 100 global marketing blog. Neal provides social media strategy consulting and coaching, having worked with Fortune 500 companies and a Grammy-award winning musician. He has presented worldwide on social media at more than 150 events and also teaches social media marketing at Rutgers University. +Neal Schaffer